Mt. SAC Early College Academy Tops SGV News Reader’s Choice Awards
Mt. SAC Early College Academy – West Covina Unified’s flagship dual-enrollment public high school – has been named the top high school in the San Gabriel Valley, according to the Reader’s Choice Awards from San Gabriel Valley News. Presented by Southern California News Group, the annual awards recognize the best people, places and things as voted on by SCNG readers. Mt. SAC Early College Academy provides students the opportunity to simultaneously earn a high school diploma and up to two years of free, transferable college credit. High school students from Los Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside and Orange counties are eligible to apply to the Academy.
Whittier Union Graduate Creates COVID-19 Awareness Campaign
Harvard-bound Whittier High School Class of 2020 co-valedictorian Julia Casas will partner with PIH Whittier to establish more effective communication networks in the Whittier area in an effort to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The effort is part of Harvard’s SPARK program, an immersive six-week public service program offered exclusively to incoming freshmen. Casas will work with PIH Whittier administrators to organize a social network of volunteers, create an online newsletter, coordinate donations of PPE and raise funds for the hospital.
Monrovia Unified Webinars Provide Reopening Information
Monrovia Unified School District held a series of webinars for parents and stakeholders regarding the District’s school reopening plan. The webinar discussed the possibility of having students attend school, but not in a traditional manner. Students will have days when distance learning is required with a rotating schedule with two cohorts. Plans for transportation, food services and cleaning schedules are still being finalized. Monrovia Unified’s first day of school is Wednesday, Aug. 19.
El Monte City School District is engaging more than 1,000 students in a trio of summer learning programs that offer customized instruction in topics ranging from musical theater and journalism to American Sign Language and art from the Getty. Programs include its primary Summer Academy – a virtual school engaging 985 students in transitional kindergarten through grade seven – as well as an advanced math academy offered to 84 students in partnership with Río Hondo College and courses in robotics funded by a grant from California Community Foundation in partnership with the Los Angeles County Office of Education.
Río Hondo College’s Citizens’ Oversight Committee commended the College’s staff and leadership on July 8 for management of Measure A tax dollars, which have been used to transform the campus into a modern academic facility over the last 16 years. In its 2018-19 annual report to the Board of Trustees, the Committee said the College met all fiduciary responsibilities in managing funding provided by the community in 2004 as part of a $245 million bond measure.
Nine aspiring nurses from Fontana Unified’s Class of 2020 will further their education at Cal State San Bernardino and Cal Baptist University in the fall, building on the skills they learned in the District’s Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program. Cindy Aceves Ortiz, Melissa Gutierrez, Elvi Haro Dominguez, Tianna Johnson, Lizette Rodriguez, Brieana Rojas Gutierrez, Sabrina Rullan, Edith Valdovinos and Elizabeth Vega were inspired to pursue degrees and careers in the medical field after completing the CNA program at Fontana High School.
Donning protective face coverings, gloves and yellow and orange safety vests, volunteers from Los Angeles County organized thousands of food boxes and loaded them into hundreds of vehicles that began lining up at 8:30 a.m. as part of a free drive-thru food giveaway at Pioneer High School. The Office of Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, in partnership with the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank and Whittier Union, sponsored the July 1 event, giving enough food away to feed 2,426 families. Each car that drove through received four 20-pound boxes of groceries, including protein, dairy, non-perishables and fresh produce.
Two Baldwin Park Unified elementary schools have been named 2020 Los Angeles County Top Public Schools for narrowing the opportunity gap for low-income Latino students and increasing their chances to attend a public university. Kenmore Elementary and Santa Fe School earned the distinction for their strength in English language arts (ELA) proficiency; Kenmore was also recognized for its math proficiency.
FONTANA, CA – Fontana Unified educator Marco Garcia will serve as Fontana Middle School’s principal for the 2020-21 year, bringing 22 years of experience to the role. Garcia takes the helm at Fontana Middle School on July 1 after working as an assistant principal at Henry J. Kaiser High School for the last four-and-a-half years.
Río Hondo College’s Roadrunner Hand Crew 77 has been activated by the U.S. Forest Service to assist with national wildfire needs, backfilling behind “hot shot” crews normally assigned to the Angeles National Forest. The crew began its 14-day minimum activation cycle on June 26 and could be assigned almost anywhere needed.
